Constitution

Why was James Madison so critical of democracies? Moreover, why was he so concerned about them when, according to the definition he provided, “democracies” basically don’t exist anywhere, either in his time or in our own. Today, many conservatives like to claim that “the Founding Fathers” opposed democracy and supported less majoritarian republics. However, as is nearly always the case whenever “the Founding Fathers” are involved, a more accurate statement would be “some Founding Fathers” condemned democracy. Indeed, many of the Founding Fathers — especially among the Anti-Federalists, openly described themselves as being in favor of “democracy” and “the democratical…
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Until a few years ago, concerns over government surveillance were generally limited to conspiracy theories, technology organizations, and limited-government libertarians (these groups sometimes overlapping). It wasn’t a major mainstream concern. The revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden changed everything. It wasn’t just the paranoid delusions of conspiracy theorists anymore. It wasn’t just excessive caution by concerned libertarians, and it wasn’t just technology organizations arguing extreme hypotheticals. It was fact. After Snowden’s numerous revelations dropped, there was a widespread push for reform. Some people were shocked by the revelations, others were largely unsurprised. If there is one thing…
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Time and again, President Donald Trump has triggered people across America with his habitual tweeting. Twitter has continued to offer a direct gateway to the thought process of a President, something Americans have never known before. His tweets are not watered down by his staff, they’re directly from him. Where President Trump encounters trouble is when he fires shots against his political enemies. The hyperbole in response is incredible. Critics label his tweeting habits as dangerous to liberty and the free press. Using his own right to free speech to criticize those who criticize him is apparently contrary to the…
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In response to the shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas last week, an opinion piece in The Boston Globe has called for the mass confiscation of millions of legally purchased firearms, arguing it is “far and away the most effective approach” to stop mass shootings. In a piece aptly titled “Hand over your weapons,” the Globe’s David Scharfenberg criticized congressional Democrats for their gun control proposals–namely universal background checks and a so-called assault weapons ban–declaring the proposals as “not just difficult to enact in the current political climate; their practical effects would also be quite limited.” “In other words, the proposals…
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The political establishment has come for Judge Roy Moore. After beating Sen. Mitch McConnell’s crony, Luther Strange in the Republican primaries, the GOP was not going to let this stand. A November surprise of sorts was concocted as four accusers emerged to accuse Moore of sexual impropriety after decades of silence. Nevertheless, the dirty tricks have apparently failed. Recent polling data shows that the Alabama voters are not buying the mainstream media’s smears. The people of Alabama largely stand behind the Judge, and his lead over his Democratic opponent has not been affected. According to a Breitbart News report, a…
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Federal government officials who believe in the Constitution and limited government are generally a rarity. In modern American politics, the federal level is expected to do most things in society. Lower level governments from state to municipal are merely administrative extensions to the will of the top. It’s the type of structure that is contrary to the vision laid out by our founders, and the natural downfall of any republic. In recent decades, this has accelerated. In the post-9/11 America, former President George W. Bush used the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 to massively grow the federal government.…
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Americans today consider the Supreme Court to be the final arbiter of the Constitution. Politicians and voters alike will fight tooth and nail over legal questions facing the judicial system, even criticizing Supreme Court rulings when initially handed down. But give a Supreme Court decision enough time and Americans eventually acquiesce. The question becomes “settled.” From the banning of prayer and Bible reading in public schools in the 1960s to the recent forced recognition of same-sex “marriage” in all 50 States, the Court’s decisions reign supreme. However, the Supreme Court’s rulings do not enforce themselves. They carry weight because State…
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During last year’s presidential election cycle, then-candidate Donald Trump created a firestorm and regularly fanned the flames by repeatedly refusing to release his tax returns. While there is no actual law on the books requiring candidates for office to release such personal tax documentation for public consumption, it’s been a generally accepted tradition. The refusal to release his tax returns was a rallying call for Democrats. Liberals, both moderates and progressives alike, united to sound the alarm at what they portrayed as totalitarian. Does the public have a right to view a candidate’s tax return? Legislation has been popping up…
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President Donald Trump’s recent tweets regarding the prevalence of NFL athletes kneeling during the national anthem was met with immediate disapproval from haters. Though tweets from Trump are always susceptible to backlash, the arguments against Trump, this particular time, hit some good points. The prominent arguments being stated are that kneeling during the National Anthem is a right protected under the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, and that political speech is not what the athletes are paid to do and the athletes must respond to their fan feedback. This is clearly a tough topic to have a simple opinion on…
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There are two reasons that Colin Kaepernick is out of a job in the National Football League. The first and most important reason is that he’s a lousy quarterback. This isn’t unique to Kaepernick, as there are plenty of mediocre players at all positions in the NFL. This brings us to the second reason that he’s an unemployed bum: He brings with him enough baggage to travel to Europe, baggage which other middling players have the good sense to leave in the closet, even if they agree with his sanctimonious posturing. Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem to protest the…
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In the age of Trump, the Right has been divided into two sides. On one side, we have the alt-right and alt-lite which seeks to defend Western Civilization by any means necessary. While I generally agree with these folks that Western principles should be preserved, I disagree strongly with their very tactics, such as play disruption and embracing racism. I personally feel that the best way to spread ideas is to actually hold discussions, not brawls. As seen in the aftermath of Charlottesville, these extremist forces have not succeeded in building sympathy for their cause as their stunt only incited more…
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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) admitted he made a mistake in opposing Trump’s 2016 presidential bid during a Tuesday Q&A session at the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference. Asked whether Lee had received backlash from the Republican Party as a result of his past opposition to Trump, he stated, “I took a position at the time that was taking place because I had certain ideas about whether he could get elected – I didn’t think he could.” “I turned out to be wrong,” he continued. “In so far as he fights to restore constitutionally limited government, I will be…
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With Obama no longer in the oval office, the right wing is less focused on Constitutional issues, but not every conservative and libertarian has given up on that fight. One political action committee is sweeping into action right as they are needed most–to help Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and other conservative hardliners in their fight to defeat Obamacare. “I was at these tea party rallies with a hundred thousand people on the Mall in Washington,” Paul said last week on Philadelphia talk radio. “Where are those people now and what happened to a movement that said that we believed in…
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For most Americans, Independence Day means firecrackers and cookouts. The Declaration of Independence—whose proclamation, on July 4, 1776, we celebrate—doesn’t feature. Contemporary Americans are less likely to read it now that it is easily available on the Internet, than when it relied on horseback riders for its distribution. It is fair to say that the Declaration of Independence has been mocked out of meaning. Back in 1776, gallopers carried the Declaration through the country. Printer John Dunlap had worked “through the night” to set the full text on “a handsome folio sheet,” recounts historian David Hackett Fischer in Liberty And…
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Mark Joseph Stern is coming apart at the seams and he wants you to imitate his thumb-sucking fetal posture. In his article, Neil Gorsuch is everything liberals feared—and more, Stern recites a litany of Justice Gorsuch’s most heinous transgressions. He’s supposedly “pro-gun, pro–travel ban, anti-gay, anti–church/state separation. He is certainly more conservative than Justice Samuel Alito and possibly to the right of Justice Clarence Thomas.” Stern saves the best/worst for last when he says Gorsuch “will likely serve on the court for at least three more decades.” There’s a lot there for the Left to fear and for the Right…
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Free speech is dying on college campuses; this is a known fact all across America. But with the events at Evergreen College and UC Berkeley, it seems as though colleges are now giving in to the anti-free speech movement. Luckily, many conservative legislatures across the nation are now beginning to introduce bills that will uphold this cherished right. One state representative, Lance Harris (R-LA), has proposed a bill that will uphold the First Amendment on campus. His bill, House Bill 269, calls for college management boards to report “any barriers to or disruptions of free expression within state institutions of…
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I have a confession to make, dear readers: I am a bigot. That’s right, I am obstinately devoted to my opinions and prejudices and I possess a deep-seated hatred and intolerance of certain groups and beliefs that are in conflict with my own. I suspect you too are a bigot in your own unique ways and also in other ways that are more common. For instance, since World War II, most people in the West and beyond are bigoted against Nazis. There’s nothing wrong with hating Nazis and being intolerant of their warped worldview. This kind of bigotry is actually…
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In 2015, a former Big Rapids, MI pastor was arrested and charged with a felony for handing out jury nullification pamphlets outside of a county courthouse. Despite being an obvious infringement of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, the man was still convicted of a lesser charge of misdemeanor jury tampering on Wednesday. Keith Wood, a father of eight, was disseminating information from the Fully Informed Jury Association on the sidewalk in front of the Mecosta County Courthouse in Nov. 2015. The fliers explained the rights that jurors possess in full, including the right for jurors to use their conscience…
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The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), still in effect today, was passed and signed into law containing provisions allowing for the indefinite detention of American citizens without due process. A new bipartisan effort being spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) would restore 6th Amendment of the Constitution. “America should never waver in vigilantly pursuing those who would commit, or plot to commit, acts of treason against our country,” Lee said in press release about the bill. “But the federal government should not be allowed to indefinitely imprison any American on the mere accusation of treason without affording them the…
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Democrats and prominent liberals have engaged in alarmist fear-mongering for months in response to the agenda of President Donald Trump. Whether it is his targeting of illegal immigrants here in America or his using the presidency to interfere with other processes, Democrats have sounded the alarm about what they claim is unprecedented tyranny in the Oval Office. The problem is we have seen all of this before, and we have seen even worse. Is President Trump hurting people’s feelings worse than Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt deciding that race and heritage alone was reason enough to force Japanese Americans into…
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On March 29, 2017, the George Washington University Law School’s branch of the Federalist Society hosted a debate between Professor John Yoo of Berkeley Law and Professor Jonathan Turley of GW Law. The topic of the debate was the delegation of war powers under the United States Constitution. Yoo is best known for the now infamous memo he wrote as a member of the Justice Department in the early 2000s that argued in favor of the authority of the executive to use “advanced interrogation techniques” on enemy combatants. Turley is best known as a civil libertarian who has represented members…
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The most perplexing and perverse development in our country’s politics over the past decade or so has been the unholy alliance between the so-called “progressive” movement and the pseudo-religious terrorist organization best known as Islam. A degree in the history of Abrahamic faith systems – maybe only Islam in particular – would be helpful in highlighting the absurdity of the Progressive-Muslim pact, but it’s unnecessary – the mind-numbing stupidity of the arrangement is virtually visible from space. On one side, you have snowflake social justice warriors who champion the causes of women and gays, among other things. On the other…
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As the Democratic establishment and liberal activists across the country march in the streets and flood airports in protest of President Donald Trump’s immigration and national security policies, many fail to realize their complacency in what has taken place over the course of the last eight years. While in office, President Obama drastically expanded his executive authority in a variety of ways, finalizing over 560 major regulations, or regulations with significant economic or social impacts. He worked to restructure our national healthcare and banking industries, for better or for worse. He continued the tradition of warring with other countries without…
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October 22, 1836 – Freedom isn’t free, but sometimes it is more costly to live for than to die for. Deep in the hill country of south Texas, Col. William Barret Travis and 181 of his fellow patriots hunkered down in a crumbling adobe church and fended off over a thousand professional soldiers under the command of Antonio Lopez Santa Anna for thirteen days of heroic sacrifice. Thirteen days that the Texian reinforcements under General Sam Houston desperately needed. Now we all know they won their freedom, but I’m interested in what came afterward. October 22, 1836, marks the anniversary…
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Congressional term limits have been a topic of conversation for decades in political circles. Should members of Congress only be allowed to serve a certain number of terms? Are career politicians a bad thing or is consistency good? Well, the subject was once again thrust into the limelight when Presidential Candidate Donald Trump announced on Tuesday at a campaign rally in Colorado his plans to push for a Constitutional amendment imposing Congressional term limits. Just as he would do in his ever so popular television series The Apprentice, Trump would like to look across the boardroom table at Congress, stick out…
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Years ago when I was in my first year of undergraduate study at my university, I had an inkling of what I desired to do as a career outside of pure academia: political journalism. But in order to do it and make something of a living at it, I didn’t quite know where to start – politically, I was a bit of a square peg, with my socially liberal views oftentimes seen as directly contradictory to my fiscally conservative ones. And yet, a handful of smaller publications that shared my vociferously individualistic approach to political writing, and fortunately, they decided…
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Donald Trump is doomed. This, at any rate, is what we are expected to believe given his latest skirmish, a media-created dustup with Khazir Khan. The latter is a Muslim transplant to America, a lawyer who specializes in Islamic immigration, and the father of a son who was killed while on a combat mission in Iraq back in 2004. Khan initiated this altercation with Trump when, while speaking at the Democratic National Convention last week, he accused Trump of both ignorance of the Constitution as well as a lack of patriotism, a life-long unwillingness to make “sacrifices.” Trump, daring to…
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The recent shooting in the Orlando, Florida LGBT nightclub was tragic and heartbreaking, not just for the LGBT community, but for anyone in America who felt solidarity and actually gave a damn. But as usual, the afterglow of tragedy was swiftly upheaved and manipulated for political argumentation – never mind the fact that the blood hadn’t even cooled; the suits in Washington felt it necessary to stand on the graves as soapboxes and promulgate yet another anti-gun push. President Obama stated that same day during his press conference what a shame it was that the “type” of gun used in the…
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A robust discussion last week between Jeff Deist, President of the Mises Institute, and Michael Boldin, Executive Director of the Tenth Amendment Center, showed how libertarians of different stripes can come together while reaching out to the broader public by sticking to the issues that matter. Boldin appeared on the Mises Institute’s Audio/Video Podcast for a spirited discussion about libertarian strategy. This is an essential topic that has been glossed over for far too long, to the detriment of the movement as a whole. While Deist, a staunch anarchist, and Boldin, a political reformer, may seem to be at odds,…
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Late yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted on 4 separate gun related amendments to the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Act. The four amendments, two sponsored by Republicans and two sponsored by Democrats, were each voted down largely along party lines. The legislation followed a week that started with a shooting in Orlando, Florida that left 50 people dead and more than 50 injured and ended with a 15-hour filibuster by Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) during which he preached “common sense gun reform”. Murphy’s amendments, which were proposed along with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), would prevent anyone on the “terror watch…
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Most Americans who have taken a civics course are aware that the Constitution, in Article 1 Section 8, grants the legislative branch the authority to declare war. However, it appears that our country’s lawmakers have either forgotten this or are instead choosing to pass the buck on to President Obama to avoid their Constitutional obligation to declare war on ISIL. Last Thursday’s vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan amendment offered to the 2017 Defense Appropriations Bill is yet another example of this dereliction of duty by Congress. House Armed Services Committee member Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) and…
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Yesterday, the Republican Party gasped its final breath as Ted Cruz, the candidate I named in my last article as the only remaining viable option in the party, dropped out of the 2016 race for the GOP nomination. Rand Paul supporters had for months been disparaging this man’s campaign for no other tangible reason other than the fact that he wasn’t Rand Paul. I criticized this idle purism at the time, and I implicate it now as the cause for Cruz’s narrow-but-meaningful losses in votes and delegates that ultimately left Trump just enough in the lead to count Cruz’s campaign…
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The doctrine of sovereign immunity derives from the English notion that “the king can do no wrong” and hence cannot be sued without his consent. The purpose of this doctrine was, in England, from at least the Middle Ages until eighteenth century, to bar certain lawsuits against the monarch and his or her ministers and servants. With the rise of the English Parliament after the death of Elizabeth I, government officers and politicians sought to gain the power of immunity that the monarch and his or her agents had enjoyed. In practice, however, English subjects were not totally deprived of…
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Last month thousands of recent law school graduates sat for a bar examination in their chosen state of practice. They were not undertaking a harmless rite of passage but overcoming a malicious obstacle: an artificial barrier to entry in the form of occupational licensure. Barriers to entry are restrictions on access to or participation in markets or vocations. Occupational licensure is a type of barrier to entry that regulates professions by requiring certification and licensing in the manner of medieval guilds. Medicine and law are perhaps the most recognizable professions to require their practitioners to obtain and maintain licenses. The…
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